Search

Your search keyword '"Hubmer, Joachim"' showing total 16 results
Start Over Author "Hubmer, Joachim"
16 results on '"Hubmer, Joachim"'

8. Why Are the Wealthiest So Wealthy? A Longitudinal Empirical Investigation

Author

Ozkan, Serdar, Hubmer, Joachim, Salgado, Sergio, and Halvorsen, Elin

Subjects
bequests, saving rate heterogeneity, ddc:330, D14, lifecycle wealth dynamics, rate of return heterogeneity, D15, wealth inequality, E21
Abstract

We use Norwegian administrative panel data on wealth and income between 1993 and 2015 to study lifecycle wealth dynamics, focusing on the wealthiest households. On average, the wealthiest start their lives substantially richer than other households in the same cohort, own mostly private equity, earn higher returns, derive most of their income from dividends and capital gains, and save at higher rates. At age 50, the excess wealth of the top 0.1% group relative to mid-wealth households is accounted for in about equal terms by higher saving rates (34%), higher initial wealth (32%), and higher returns (27%), while higher labor income (5%) and inheritances (1%) account for the small residual. There is significant heterogeneity among the wealthiest: one-fourth of them–which we dub the "New Money"–start with negative wealth but experience rapid wealth growth early in life. Relative to the quartile of top owners that already started their life rich–the "Old Money"–the New Money are characterized by even higher saving rates and returns and also by higher labor income. Their excess wealth is mainly explained by higher saving rates (46%), higher returns (34%), and higher labor income (16%).

Published
2023

12. Sources of U.S. Wealth Inequality : Past, Present, and Future

Author

Hubmer, Joachim, Krusell, Per, Smith, Jr, Anthony A., Hubmer, Joachim, Krusell, Per, and Smith, Jr, Anthony A.

Abstract

This paper employs a benchmark heterogeneous-agent macroeconomic model to examine a numberof plausible drivers of the rise in wealth inequality in the U.S. over the last forty years. We find thatthe significant drop in tax progressivity starting in the late 1970s is the most important driver of theincrease in wealth inequality since then. The sharp observed increases in earnings inequality and thefalling labor share over the recent decades fall far short of accounting for the data. The model can alsoaccount for the dynamics of wealth inequality over the period—in particular the observed U-shape—and here the observed variations in asset returns are key. Returns on assets matter because portfoliosof households differ systematically both across and within wealth groups, a feature in our model thatalso helps us to match, quantitatively, a key long-run feature of wealth and earnings distributions: theformer is much more highly concentrated than the latter.

Published
2020

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results